


Lightning in a Bottle

by turnofthesentry



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Complicated Relationships, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internal Conflict, M/M, Not Cheating, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Past Moose/Reggie, Past Relationship(s), References to Archie/Reggie, References to Kevin/Moose, Relationship Discussions, Romantic Friendship, Sleepovers, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 01:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17356697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnofthesentry/pseuds/turnofthesentry
Summary: Set after the end of 3x05,The Great Escape.Maybe they both deserve something different.





	Lightning in a Bottle

**Author's Note:**

> After 10 or so years of struggling to write and finish any kind of Archie Comics fic (the nature of their format makes it pretty hard to do, turns out!) I’ve been hoping Riverdale fic would be a bit easier to accomplish. Here’s my first attempt of hopefully a few; I’m very out of practice but hope y’all enjoy it!!

Do people still have sleepovers at 17 if they’re not girls, best friends, or hooking up? Kevin doesn’t know, but he also knows he can’t exactly claim to know all the ins and outs of typical teenage small town life experience. 

On the other hand, at this point, can _any_ of them? Nothing about Riverdale has been “typical” since last Fourth of July over a year ago, and even that’s a generous estimate. It goes back a lot further than just a year, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when this town changed from “dull, claustrophobic, but mostly ( _mostly_ ) harmless” to murder, murder, _more_ murder, righteous jailbreaks, seeing gang member ex-boyfriends running around in the woods talking so much nonsense he might as well have been speaking in tongues, and the latest gaming-fad-slash-probable-cult-slash- _definite_ -conspiracy. 

So all in all, Kevin is actually strangely relieved to have Reggie staying over tonight, and he imagines Reggie must be feeling about the same. Given his altercation with his dad earlier that he _definitely_ still doesn’t want to talk about, Reggie was already in no hurry to go back home tonight, but with both of them still as energized from adrenaline as they are shaken, the company during what would otherwise be a relatively sleepless night anyway seems more than welcome; just two guys chilling in their t-shirts and boxer briefs with a tray of snacks, video games, and that damn tabletop game manual. 

Yeah, _totally_ a normal night. 

The idea was to start talking more about some of their G&G intentions, develop a rough plan-of-action they can fill Josie in on in tomorrow, but they’re both a little too tense to get very far-- too _distracted_ by that tension, by other thoughts and complicated feelings, to do much more than put their characters (Reggie a Bard, Kevin a Ranger) down on paper. Kevin’s mind is too preoccupied with boys, and not in the corny sense: Archie’s free. Joaquin’s out there, in more ways than one. And Moose is... trying. 

As much as doubts and discouragement keep trying to bully Kevin’s emotions into a self-defeating, lonely corner, he does make sure to remind himself that Moose _is_ trying. 

He looks over at Reggie who’s sitting on the floor across from him, one leg curled toward his body and one bent at the knee for his arm to rest on, pretending to read the G&G manual when it’s obvious his mind is also too preoccupied with God only knows what to focus. It’s been a long day, and Reggie, for such a loud mouth, tends to be quieter than the rest of them when it comes to how he’s “doing” whenever things happen. If he can’t lash out in anger to a situation, he seems to just go along keeping his feelings to himself. 

He reacts on Archie’s behalf over a _lot_ of things, sure, had reacted on Moose’s behalf over Midge’s murder, but how Reggie had dealt with it himself, or with Jason Blossom’s, or with _anything_ else that’s happened since, is a side Kevin never sees. Does anyone get to, or does it all stay internalized? 

He keeps forcing himself not to stare at the deep, aggressively purple bruise ringing Reggie’s eye. 

“What are you thinking about?”

Reggie works his jaw to one side before he lifts his eyes to Kevin, casually letting the manual drop from his hand and wetting his lips before he speaks. Something unknowable stirs briefly in Kevin’s chest, so he takes a sip of water for it. 

“You first,” he says with a smirk. Kevin relaxes, but only slightly. He and Reggie aren’t that close, after all, so it’s hard for him to sense how to define this _vibe_ hanging in the air; not just tension, but something new, something thicker and more restless that feels like static on his skin. 

He has to ignore it. 

“I…” Kevin leans his arm over his bent knee, trying to find a simple enough way to answer without getting too personal, without making things awkward, but that’s probably impossible anyway. “I don’t even know, just, _everything?_ That isn’t a cop-out, is it? I mean, Archie’s officially on the lam, Joaquin’s _totally_ lost his mind, Josie’s mom and my dad are getting married, Moose is-- um.” 

Kevin stops, realizing he’s been staring hard at his own interlocking knuckles because it’s too difficult to vent and maintain eye contact, but he still catches himself before he says anything he might regret. He can’t forget that Moose is Reggie’s best friend. When he looks up again Reggie’s watching him, and only shrugs one shoulder once he’s been visually acknowledged. 

“Yeah,” says Reggie, as if that’s an adequate response to anything Kevin just said, except somehow, it kind of is. Kevin keeps looking at him as if he’s still expecting some kind of follow-up, and when it never comes, he can’t help but laugh. 

“Yeah,” he agrees. “And don’t get me wrong, I’m not _complaini--”_

He can’t know for sure if anything he says tonight will or won’t make it back to Moose, and he’s really _not_ trying to complain, but Reggie puts up a hand to stop him from tripping any further over clarifications. 

“Dude, relax. Like yeah, Moose is my boy and I _love_ the guy, but he’s _not_ exactly great boyfriend material. That’s not new information, Keller, trust me.” 

Despite his raised eyebrows and matter-of-fact delivery, it’s Reggie’s turn to look down instead of making eye contact. Kevin can’t help but quirk an eyebrow, head cocked slightly as he waits in curious silence for Reggie to continue. 

“But his girlfriend _just_ died, bro. I don’t think he even _knows_ what he wants right now. Let alone what’s actually good for him...” Now Reggie’s eyes raise to meet Kevin’s again, brows raised. “I mean, not that I’m saying you _aren’t._ That’s not what I--” 

“No, I-- it’s fine, I got what you meant.” 

The tension is back again, that undefinable energy that reminds Kevin a little of when the pressure suddenly drops before a storm, or how _heavy_ and electrified the air can still feel directly afterward. Something ominous, yet strangely calming. 

“I’m really not trying to put you in the middle of anything, sorry,” he adds, and that’s when it finally happens, what he realizes only in that moment he’s been anticipating this whole time. The lightning strike. 

On the wholly conscious level, though, the kiss is still unexpected; still enough of a surprise that Kevin can justify not pulling away in advance, even though part of him knew it was coming, had sensed it on some level _long_ before Reggie leaned forward to softly press their lips together. Still just enough of a surprise that it feels purely involuntary when he starts to kiss back. 

They can’t do this, _shouldn’t_ do this, but Kevin allows it for a few seconds anyway, lingering in that grey area between _longing_ and _knowing better_ and wishing Moose would ever touch him the way Reggie’s touching him now-- which is not exactly _delicate_ , but it is confident, like he’s not afraid of what he’s touching. Not afraid of what he wants. Is Reggie ever? Kevin’s sure that he must be, but the difference between Reggie and Moose is that Reggie rarely lets it show. He charges forward instead of retreating, and if he’s afraid or gets burned in the process, he pulls back, ices the wound, and tries again. 

Like how Kevin is, too... or at least, how he _tries_ to be. But both of them try to be a lot of things. There’s no shame in that. 

“Wait-- stop.”

And Kevin does stop himself, hand cupping the side of Reggie’s face to pull him back by the hair. A lot is going through Kevin’s mind in that moment, and again, he can only wonder what could possibly be going through Reggie’s. 

Because Reggie’s smart, much smarter than most people know. Even if Kevin’s also been fooled before this moment, it’s so obvious in retrospect; he’s always kind of abstractly suspected that Reggie liked boys, because Reggie isn’t _subtle_ , but he _does_ know how to present his interest in a way almost no one ever thinks twice about or questions, while still not actually having to hide it. 

At least, not in the traditional sense. Hiding in plain sight only counts for partial credit. 

“I can’t do this. _We_ can’t do this,” Kevin continues softly and with some regret, before either of their hands move off each other. Reggie slowly sits back, rubbing his mouth in absence of anything to say, which allows Kevin a moment to be distracted by it. Stupid sexy Reggie, with his round pink lips that _are_ just as nice to kiss as they look like they’d be. And his shiny, soft-but-slightly-gel-stiff hair, and his--

Okay. No. Reggie being pretty is nothing new, and tempting as it is to just keep going, to lean into Reggie and let those long legs wrap around him, that’s not the kind of person Kevin wants to be. He has to focus. 

He wonders what Reggie really wants, too. Something easy with the nearest willing warm body, or something more than that? Or does he only settle for the former until he can find the latter? 

“I didn’t wanna keep talking about Moose,” he says plainly, as if that explains everything. Except somehow, it kind of does.

“Wait, did you and Moose ever…?” Kevin blinks. “Actually, wait, I’m not sure I even _want_ to know the answer to that. Then I’m going to have no choice but to picture you two together... like _together_ together.” 

Reggie laughs, but not in his usual sort of way. It reminds Kevin more of how he’d grinned after pulling his sunglasses off to reveal the black eye underneath. 

“Nah. Well…” His expression changes with that pause, in a way Kevin isn’t quite sure what to make of. “Okay, _once._ But Midge was there, too-- it was their idea.” 

Kevin isn’t sure what to make of that answer, either. A threesome? Was Midge only there to watch? Or... God, there he goes, picturing it. Dammit. 

But it makes sense, if Reggie likes (liked?) Moose and also liked Midge, or at least pretended to be somewhat interested in her so he could more easily hide that he really wanted her boyfriend. It’s like what Moose said to him once: guys like them in a town like Riverdale don’t have a lot of options. Sometimes you have to go for it despite the risk, to not be alone for even just a few minutes. 

Kevin wonders how long Reggie has known about Moose, and wonders if Moose was thinking about all three of them when he’d said that, or if he still didn’t know about Reggie. If they’ve messed around before then surely he should, but Moose’s understanding of sexuality still seems pretty confused at times. 

It’s not just that Reggie’s the popular captain of the football team; other jocks probably wouldn’t get away with feeling up guys and slapping their asses in the school hallways devoid of any sports context whatsoever (Moose is certainly a little more uptight about it _unless_ it’s with Reggie), but that and everything else Reggie does is okay when Reggie does it because people have been conditioned to _expect_ it from him. It’s just typical Reggie shit, which doesn’t make it any more or less… 

And yet, it totally does. Somehow when it’s Reggie no one raises their eyebrows, even though it’s textbook Intricate Rituals for touching other men 101. He’s the poster boy for the phenomenon, but even Kevin never analyzed it too deeply. When athletes do anything homoerotic he’s used to a good 75 - 80% of it being entirely accidental, but thinking about it now, Reggie has always been surprisingly approachable for a jock-- never homophobic or cruel to him even _before_ they became friends, but rather just kind of casually a shallow, impulsive dick to almost everyone. 

But it really all depends on what Reggie would have told Moose at the time, and that’s not any of Kevin’s business. At least not for now, it isn’t.

“But don’t worry, I’m over it,” Reggie adds, nonchalantly enough that Kevin’s tentatively convinced. “These days it’s been…” 

And he doesn’t need to finish, because it’s especially obvious now who Reggie’s been interested in _these days_ even without him spelling it out: Archie Andrews. Reggie is _always_ talking about Archie, finding reasons to touch Archie, to get more involved in Archie’s life and his personal business even though that’s been nothing but a hot mess since this time last year… 

“Archie, right? And how is that going…?” That sounds more sarcastic than Kevin intended, but Reggie shrugs it off. 

“ _And,_ like, it was never gonna happen, so.” Reggie raises both his eyebrows, but drops his gaze. “Who cares?”

“Whatever happened with Josie? Or…”

“Did she not tell you?” A tenser tone that makes Kevin regret asking. “She doesn’t date. And even if she _did_ , most people don’t really look at me and think _‘boyfriend material.’”_

And to that, Kevin doesn’t know what to say. He goes with: “Oh.” 

Really, he doesn’t know the extent of Reggie’s feelings for Josie, or what appear to be growing feelings for Veronica, enough to comment. The girls Reggie takes any serious interest in are exactly what one might expect: popular, beautiful, and hard to get or keep the attention of (just like Reggie himself), or girls who already have boyfriends, either jealous ones or ones with whom Reggie is already hands-on chummy with. Primarily _unattainable_ girls, in other words (and by proxy, unattainable _boys_ , too). Living in Riverdale may have given Kevin a crummy gaydar, but even he knows those aren’t new tricks. But when some of it is legitimate and some of it is just for appearances and reputation only, the lines for what’s real and what isn’t start to blur. 

On that, he doesn’t have any wisdom to offer, except that anyone is safe to want if you already know you can’t have them. Kevin knows that pretty well, too. He just doesn’t understand why Reggie would embrace that cycle rather than be as tired of it as Kevin is. The novelty of just being either someone’s “bro” or their dirty little secret wears thin eventually. 

_“Oh,”_ Reggie repeats with derisive amusement, snapping Kevin from his thoughts again with a wry smile. “Look, she may be your future sister, but Moose is _my_ best friend. I think we can call it even.” 

“That’s not it,” Kevin says, sighing and leaning his back to the wall. “Just, thinking about how maybe we both deserve something different.” 

“Well, yeah, _I_ could’ve told you that. Never be the rebound, Kev.” 

Kevin swallows, looking at his hands. 

“You should really follow your own advice.”


End file.
